Content tagged with Armenian-Turkish relations

In foreign affairs: a trade partnership with the United States, normalization with Turkey, peace with Azerbaijan, closer ties with the European Union, conflict with Russia…In domestic politics: elections, disputes with the opposition, conflict with the Church... Over the past year, Armenia with 3 million population has undergone an extraordinary amount of change. Having won elections for the third time, Pashinyan is steering the country toward the West, but geopolitics does not appear likely to make that easy. In the elections held on June 7, half of the electorate told Pashinyan, "Your decision is the right one; we're with you," but change will not come easily. Turkish border remains closed, Moscow is imposing trade restrictions, and Azerbaijan is demanding constitutional amendments. We spoke with Professor Mustafa Aydın, a faculty member in the Department of International Relations at Kadir Has University, about the possible scenarios Armenia may face in the coming period and its relations with Turkey.

In the election held in Armenia on June 7, the current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party won with nearly 50% of the vote. Prior to the election, direct trade had commenced between Turkey and Armenia, and just last week, a group of businesspeople from Armenia crossed the land border to meet with Turkish businesspeople in Kars. Following the election, how the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia will proceed remains a matter of curiosity. Noyan Soyak, Founder and Co-Vice Chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council, evaluated the results of the Armenian elections for Agos.

Known for his researches on Caucasus and his book on Karabakh conflict titled “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War”, author and journalist Thomas de Waal's recent book “Great Catastrophe: Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide” has been published in Turkish by Iletişim Publishing. By way of his book, we talked to de Waal about the current developments in Caucasus.